‘Wicker’: Olivia Colman and Alexander Skarsgård Weave a Witty Love Story in Delightfully Quirky Fable

Alci Rengifo

Cinema and fairy tales were made for each other. On film, you can show anything and tell any kind of story. “Wicker” operates with the pure logic of a fable, inviting us to simply believe its premise. Directors Alex Huston Fischer and Eleanor Wilson understand how you don’t need to explain every magical turn. You either believe a basket maker can conjure you a spouse or not. Remember when we were kids and we simply took storybook yarns at face value? This movie operates that way with wonderfully emotional results. Olivia Colman and Alexander Skarsgård give it life by becoming one of the year’s most romantic onscreen couples, doing a better job defining devotion than your average glossy date movie.

In classic fairy tale fashion, the setting of the story is in some picturesque wooded area, probably England in the 1600s. The characters are known by titles. Colman plays the local Fisherwoman of a rural village where life revolves around keeping the town going, getting married, having children and so on. The Fisherwoman likes to slyly mock convention, but she is still human, so loneliness drives her to ask a local Basket Weaver (Peter Dinklage) to make her a husband, out of wicker. He obliges, instructing her to be at a chapel by noon the next day. Right on time, waiting for the Fisherwoman is her Wicker Husband (Skarsgård). Quiet but kind, he instantly proves to be a pretty good mate. He can fix anything around the house and makes intense love. The rest of the town are at first baffled but gradually accept the Wicker Husband. Eventually, he has an unnerving effect on some. For one thing, the local women seem to admire this caring husband who is such a contrast to the local brutes. Meanwhile, the Fisherwoman’s bully, the Tailor’s Wife (Elizabeth Debicki), seethes with jealousy.

“Wicker” is another recent example of contemporary fantasy films unafraid to bask in their character with some edge. The directors’ screenplay is based on a short story by Ursula Wills and works quite well because it’s driven by ideas. Instead of just focusing on the prime gimmick of a walking wicker man, the narrative uses this fable to explore themes of domestic life and traditionalism. Life in this village is governed by the kind of rules you need to be wired into from birth. Marriage ceremonies include a large metal collar placed on the bride’s neck. Husbands here don’t tend to their wives so much as use them for breeding and housework. Even an assertive woman like the Tailor’s Wife straddles her husband during sex with complete boredom. What a difference to the Fisherwoman’s marriage, where the sex is fun and the Wicker Husband understands her worth as a person. As the Basket Weaver makes clear, his creation is not some slave. If he stays with the Fisherwoman, it’s because he genuinely loves her. 

Colman is one of the great modern actors and gives the Fisherwoman a special likeability. She’s a loner used to being picked on, so we sense the release of genuine joy when she finds her mate. Skarsgård has the more challenging role in a sense, because his performance requires such stillness. The Wicker Husband only needs to utter one or two sentences to get a point across. Underneath the impressive makeup and costume work, Skarsgård brings out warmth. In a world of harshness, the performances convey how genuine kindness is almost a freak occurrence. What exactly is the pressure to get married? “Wicker” argues that at any age, it’s not worth it if you don’t find someone who actually cares about you at an equal level. 

Visually, “Wicker” has the light and palette of a near dream. Cinematographer Lol Crawley goes for textures that feel borrowed from storybooks or fabulist paintings, in particular during evening scenes by candlelight. By combining starkness with visual elegance, we’re immersed in the world of the story, taking it seriously. Style doesn’t take over the human elements, however, and we’re more engaged by Elizabeth Debicki’s painful jealousies or the idiotic antics of the useless town doctor (Richard E. Grant). The Wicker Husband soon inspires hostile rumors, of the kind typically spread by people who feel threatened when their own faults are exposed. If only we could indeed ask for a good partner to be weaved together, since those of flesh and bone are often so humanly disappointing.

“Wicker” releases Oct. 23 in theaters nationwide.